Our object is to understand the genetic encodement, transcription, translation, regulation, and localization (that is, migration to and arrangement at required sites) for some proteins at two developmental stages for several species ranging from sea urchins to mammals. The two developmental stages will be early embryogenesis in which protein synthesis derives primarily from stored messenger RNA (mRNA) and later when protein synthesis is based on newly synthesized mRNA. For the latter case emphasis will be focused on collagen aiming specifically at the isolation of its genes, the determination of their number and distribution, mechanism of activation, transcription patterns, mRNA production, translation, collagen molecule assembly and migration into organized collagen fibrils. With respect to both embryonic and differentiated tissue we aim to dissect the regulatory mechanisms resident in the isolated chromatin and to investigate its structure and reconstitution. In the systems under study we will attempt to determine if the repeated sequence DNA is transcribed and translated and, moreover, investigate the extent to which it is really repeated sequences. With respect to transcription, we plan to elucidate the early processing of mRNA with the hope of finding out the role of bound non-ribosomal protein and the extent to which mRNA can be stored.